Joseph M. Palumbo, MD, LFAPA, MACPsych, is Executive Vice President (EVP), Head of Research & Development (R&D) and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of BioVie Inc., a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and advanced liver disease. In addition to his role at BioVie, Palumbo is a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and a Fellow of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology. He is also involved in academia, serving as a member of the American College of Psychiatrists along with sitting on the Dean’s Council of Advisors at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Prior to joining BioVie, Dr. Palumbo served as CMO for Zynerba, developing therapeutics for autism and other rare neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions of adults and children. He previously held senior worldwide governance roles at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in both the United States (US) and Japan, where he led medical science and translational research across multiple therapeutic areas, and guided successful registrational programs for RADICAVA® (edaravone) for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the US, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea, and other countries. Palumbo also served as Global Head and Franchise Medical Leader for Psychiatry, and the Interim Head of Global Neuroscience at Johnson & Johnson, where he led the medical teams who achieved successful global registrations in multiple neuropsychiatric conditions for RISPERDAL® (risperidone), CONCERTA® (methylphenidate HCL) and INVEGA® (paliperidone). He has also served on the executive teams of international pharmaceutical companies including Sanofi-Synthelabo and Cephalon, as well as senior leadership roles at prestigious academic institutions including Yale University, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Palumbo holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Medicine from the George Washington University School of Medicine. He was a Biological Sciences Training Program Fellow of the National Institutes of Health, a research mentor of junior faculty at both the APA and the Society of Biological Psychiatry, and served as Chief Resident for the Abraham Ribicoff Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at Yale University. Dr Palumbo has also received Board Certification in Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry.

Dr. Edwin J. Tucker MD is a highly accomplished and respected medical professional with a diverse background in medicine, business, and leadership. He is Chief Medical Officer for Jasper Therapeutics, a biotech focused on the development of briquilimab, a novel antibody therapy targeting c-Kit (CD117) to address mast cell driven diseases such as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU), His career spans over 30 years beginning with medical practice in the UK. He acquired increasingly senior leadership roles in large Pharma with Bayer, JNJ and Genentech/Roche before moving to start-up biotech with Acerta (COO, final role), then CMO at Mirum, CMO at Goldfinch before joining Jasper. He has served as a clinical advisor and a consultant to several biotech and investment companies. He earned his MD from Leeds University medical school; an MBA from UConn; and is Member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK). His passion is creating high performance teams and companies to improve healthcare outcomes for patients globally.

Adam Laing, PhD, is an experienced life sciences operator and systems immunologist with over 15 years of experience working in academia and industry. Focusing on building tools to generate, analyze and interpret large-scale, complex immunology data sets, Dr Laing has led several ambitious systems immunology research programs spanning transplantation, cancer, immunogenetics and infectious diseases.

Oscar Segurado is an executive veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry with extensive global leadership experience in translational science, clinical development and medical affairs. Dr Segurado is the Chief Medical Officer for ASC Therapeutics, and formerly held CMO positions for Symvivo, Myriad Genetics-Crescendo and CellMax Life, as well as roles such as Vice President for Becton Dickinson and Global Medical Head for Abbott/AbbVie. Dr Segurado is a senior medical leader experienced in matrixed, line management and consulting for biotechs, midsize and large pharma companies. He has extensive expertise in gene therapy (ASC, AveXis, UCLA Ventures, UniQure, Symvivo), immuno-oncology (Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bellicum, Jazz), immuno-therapy (Bristol-Myers Squibb, Macrogenics, TriSalus), genomics (Freenome, Myriad) and protein/cell diagnostics (Abbott, BD, Crescendo), predominantly focused on oncology, hematology and autoimmunity, including personalized medicine, molecular and cellular biomarkers. Dr Segurado holds a tenured Professorship of Immunology at the University of Leon, Spain, currently on leave. He received his PhD from the University of Wuerzburg, Germany and MD from the University of Salamanca, Spain. Prior to this, he was an associate professor at the Faculties of Medicine in the University of Munich, Germany, and University Complutense of Madrid, Spain. Dr Segurado has authored and co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, including Nature, Lancet and Journal of Experimental Medicine, as well as books and medical articles and is a member of several scientific and medical societies, including ASCO, ASH, ESMO, AACR and SITC.

Dr. Leonard Dragone has over twenty years of experience in preclinical, translational and early clinical development, with a focus in autoimmune disease. He most recently served as chief medical officer at Sonoma Biotherapeutics establishing it as a clinical stage company where he built the Clinical development, Translational and Data science organizations. Previously, Lenny held leadership roles in early clinical development at Janssen Biopharma, Merck Research Laboratories, and Genentech, where he advanced preclinical, investigational new drug (IND) filings and early clinical programs. In these roles, he focused on establishing cross-functional teams that defined patient disease heterogeneity, biomarkers and trial inclusion criteria, with the goal of enabling trials that can optimally define the value of new medicines for patients. Lenny received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester before completing his pediatric residency and pediatric rheumatology fellowship training at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He was also an associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at the University of Colorado and National Jewish Health in Denver, where he ran a National Institutes of Health-funded basic science laboratory, publishing more than 30 peer-reviewed articles. Lenny remains clinically active as a Volunteer Associate Professor of Pediatric Rheumatology at UCSF.

Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., is an experienced drug discovery and development leader, team builder and company builder. He is currently CEO, president, and chairman at FogPharma. Previously, Mathai was a member of the executive committee at Johnson & Johnson, where he served as executive vice president of pharmaceuticals, R&D. During his tenure, he spearheaded a significant and successful evolution of Janssen’s R&D, one of the largest R&D organizations in the world. Under Mathai’s leadership, Janssen R&D executed 40+ acquisitions and licenses and 350+ strategic partnerships and collaborations. A central pillar of his strategy was data science, which he used to couple recent revolutionary advances in data, computation, and algorithmic approaches to every aspect of discovering and developing medicines. Mathai led his team to global approvals of eight new medicines, including TremfyaTM, Darzalex FasproTM, BalversaTM, CarvyktiTM, RybrevantTM, PonvoryTM, SpravatoTM and TecvayliTM, with many additional global approvals for expanded indications of marketed products. Prior to his role at Johnson & Johnson, Mathai served as senior vice president at Merck, where he was responsible for multiple research areas, including cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal diseases, immunology, oncology and immuno-oncology. Before Merck, he led R&D at Theravance, Inc., a company he co-founded out of graduate school based on his work at Harvard University with Dr. George Whitesides. Under his leadership, Theravance advanced a robust pipeline of multiple development-stage compounds resulting in BREOTM, ANOROTM, YUPELRITM, TRELEGYTM and VIBATIVTM. Mathai holds an M.D. from the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (HST) and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University.

Dr. Howard Rutman is the CMO of Xalud Therapeutics where he oversees the development of plasmid-DNA based therapies for inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Since joining Xalud in April 2021, Dr Rutman has been responsible for the development program for XT-150, an IL-10 based transgene therapy that has completed 5 clinical trials for arthritic conditions. The clinical neuroinflammation program targeting ALS has recently begun with an ongoing Phase 1 study. Dr Rutman serves as the scientific face of Xalud in discussions with investors and potential partners. He has appeared on numerous biotech panels related to gene therapy development programs. 

Prior to joining Xalud, Dr Rutman was VP of Medical Affairs for Daiichi Sankyo US. In that role, he led the Medical Affairs group across all therapeutic areas to enhance the awareness of Daiichi Sankyo approved and clinical stage products through the generation, interpretation and exchange of high quality medical and scientific information for internal and external stakeholders. While at Daiichi Sankyo he had a leadership role in launches across multiple therapeutic areas including cardiovascular thrombosis, pain and oncology. Previously, Dr Rutman was at Pfizer as Global Medical Affairs lead for multiple monoclonal antibody biosimilars that were developed in oncology and immunology. 

Dr Rutman began his career as a New York-based academic cardiologist with a focus on managing patients with chronic congestive heart failure. He received a BA in Biochemical Sciences and Molecular Biology from Harvard, an MD from Johns Hopkins and an MBA from NYU-Stern. Dr Rutman completed his medical residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and his cardiology fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He remains on the teaching faculty of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Dr. Lasser is a seasoned biopharma executive with over 25 years of experience in the CNS space, spanning clinical practice, academic research, large pharma and biotech. Most recently, he held an executive role at Sage Therapeutics, where he led the development of zuranolone (ZURZUVAE®) in depressive disorders. Before that, he was the Chief Medical Officer at MedDay Pharma. Prior to joining MedDay, he was the Head of Neurodegenerative disorders at Roche, where he oversaw the Phase 2 and 3 programs for gantenerumab through 2017. Earlier in his career, Dr. Lasser held various roles at pharmaceutical companies, including managing the medical launch and lifecycle of lisdexamfetamine (VYVANSE®) at Shire, the first medicine for treating Binge Eating Disorder, the launch of the first long-acting injectable atypical antipsychotic RISPERDAL CONSTA® at Johnson & Johnson, and developing iloperidone (FANAPT®) at Novartis in the late 1990’s. Dr. Lasser completed his Geriatric Psychiatry fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health, and his residency in psychiatry at McLean Hospital. He obtained an M.B.A from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, a M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine, and a B.A. in Biochemistry from Dartmouth College.

Sonal brings more than 17 years of industry experience, including leadership roles at AVROBIO, CRISPR Therapeutics and Rubius Therapeutics. She has built and led translational research and medicine teams across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology and rare diseases. In addition, Sonal’s specialties include clinical trial design and execution, medical monitoring, and clinical data management and interpretation, including biomarker strategies. Sonal earned her PhD in cancer research from the University of Bradford in the UK, and her medical degree from the Government Medical College, Surat in India.

John Yee MD, MPH, currently serves as Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs, at Apnimed, Inc., a company developing oral drugs for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience at leading biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and health care technology companies, and at a major academic medical center. Dr. Yee has expertise in all aspects of drug development and commercialization, including clinical development, medical affairs, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, and patient advocacy. He has provided medical leadership for more than 10 new product launches and label expansions. Dr. Yee has served in senior medical leadership roles at Genzyme Corporation, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Intarcia Therapeutics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Flexion Therapeutics, and Sobi North America. Dr. Yee serves on the scientific advisory board for Comera Life Sciences, and previously served as a non-executive director on the board of directors. Dr. Yee earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, an M.P.H. in Health Care Management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an A.B. in History and Science from Harvard College. He completed his pediatric residency and fellowship training in rheumatology, immunology and health services research at Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Yee held leadership roles at Boston Children’s Hospital and served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Norman L. Sussman, M.D., FAASLD, joined DURECT as Chief Medical Officer in November 2020. He has extensive clinical experience and expertise in the field of liver disease and brings over 30 years of clinical research and development experience in academia and industry. Prior to joining DURECT, he was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and a faculty member of Baylor College of Medicine from 1985 to 1990 and again from 2003 to 2020 with some time also spent as the Chief of Hepatology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. During his academic career, he served as a principal investigator for research focused on the assessment and management of acute liver failure and artificial liver support. Dr. Sussman gained leadership experience in industry as the Founder and Vice President of both Amphioxus Cell Technologies from 1995 to 2003 and Hepatix, Inc. from 1993 to 1995. Most recently, he has also served in senior leadership roles as a member of the Baylor Faculty Senate and as director of the telehealth program, Project ECHO®, at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. Dr. Sussman received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He then completed his residency at St. Louis University Hospital and his postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University. He is board certified in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and transplant hepatology. Dr. Sussman is also a fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, which is a designation that recognizes his superior level of professional achievement in the field of hepatology.

Uptal Patel is Chief Medical Officer at HI-Bio. Prior to HI-Bio, he was the Head of Clinical Renal and Executive Group Director in Early CVRM at AstraZeneca where he led early clinical strategy and development for a wide range of therapies that address several kidney diseases. He previously led the kidney diseases domain at Gilead Sciences. He currently also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Kidney Health Initiative. As a faculty member at Duke University, he led clinical and translational research programs to improve detection and management of kidney disease in populations. He completed training at the University of Michigan in internal medicine, pediatrics, adult nephrology, pediatric nephrology, and health services research as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar after attending medical school at UCSF.